“He [James Cain] is every kind of writer I detest...a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
That's one thing I like about Hollywood. The writer is there revealed in his ultimate corruption. He asks no praise, because his… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
One would think a writer would be happy here — if a writer is ever happy anywhere. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“Personally I like the English style better. It is not quite so brittle, and the people as a rule, just wear clothes… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Everything a writer learns about the art or craft of fiction takes just a little away from his need or desire to… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The actual writing is what you live for. The rest is something you have to get through in order to arrive at… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Its idea of ''production value'' is spending a million dollars dressing up a story that any good writer would throw away. Its… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
I have made three rules of writing for myself that are absolutes: Never take advice. Never show or discuss work in progress.… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The test of a writer is whether you want to read him again years after he should by the rules be dated. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind. I am a writer, and… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“James Cain – faugh! Everything he touches smells like a billygoat. He is every kind of writer I detest, a faux naïf,… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
What greater prestige can a man like me (not too gifted, but very understanding) have than to have taken a cheap, shoddy… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Love interest nearly always weakens a mystery because it introduces a type of suspense that is antagonistic to the detective's struggle to… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The moment a man sets his thoughts down on paper, however secretly, he is in a sense writing for publication. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The agent never receipts his bill, puts his hat on and bows himself out. He stays around forever, not only for as… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
The English may not always be the best writers in the world, but they are incomparably the best dull writers. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Good critical writing is measured by the perception and evaluation of the subject; bad critical writing by the necessity of maintaining the… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn acrimonious struggle… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Don't ever write anything you don't like yourself and if you do like it, don't take anyone's advice about changing it. They… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Writers who get written about become self-conscious. They develop a regrettable habit of looking at themselves through the eyes of other people.… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
One would think a writer would be happy here -- if a writer is every happy anywhere. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Common sense is the guy who tells you that you ought to have had your brakes relined last week before you smashed a front… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“Hammett was the ace performer... He is said to have lacked heart; yet the story he himself thought the most of [The Glass Key]… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
She jerked away from me like a startled fawn might, if I had a startled fawn and it jerked away from me. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
Dashiell Hammett took murder out of theVenetian vase and dropped it into the alley. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“He [James Cain] is every kind of writer I detest...a Proust in greasy overalls, a dirty little boy with a piece of chalk and… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window. — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“I had been stalking the bluebottle fly for five minutes, waiting for him to sit down. He didn't want to sit down. He just… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
“A three-piece Mexican band was making the kind of music a Mexican band always makes. Whatever they play, it all sounds the same. They… — Raymond Chandler Copy Share Image
